Little-JIL, a language for programming coordination in processes is an executable, high-level language with a formal (yet graphical) syntax and rigorously defined operational semantics. The central abstraction in Little-JIL is the “step,” which is the focal point for coordination, providing a scoping mechanism for control, data, and exception flow and for agent and resource assignment. Steps are organized into a static hierarchy, but can have a highly dynamic execution structure including the possibility of recursion and concurrency.

Little-JIL, a new language for programming the coordination of agents, is an executable, high-level process programming language with a formal (yet graphical) syntax and rigorously defined operational semantics. Little-JIL is based on two main hypotheses. The first is that the specification of coordination control structures is separable from other process programming language issues. Little-JIL provides a rich set of control structures while relying on separate systems for support in areas such as resource, artifact and agenda management. The second hypothesis is that processes can be executed by agents who know how to perform their tasks but can benefit from coordination support. Accordingly, each step in Little-JIl is assigned to an execution agent (human or automated). These agents are responsible for initiating steps and performing the work associated with them. This approach has so far proven effective in allowing us to clearly and concisely express the agent coordination aspects of a wide variety of software, workflow and other processes.

As software engineering efforts move to more complex, distributed environments, coordinating the activities of people and tools becomes very important. While groupware systems address user level communication needs and distributed computing technologies address tool level communication needs, few attempts have been made to synthesize the common needs of both. This paper describes our attempt to do exactly that. We describe a framework for generating an agenda management system (AMS) from a specification of the system's requirements. The framework can meet a variety of requirements and produces a customized AMS appropriate for use by both humans and software tools. The framework and generated system support evolution in several ways, allowing existing systems to be extended as requirements change. We also describe our experiences using this approach to create an AMS to support a process programming environment.